"I wasn’t happy with the way things were portrayed."
Raj Dhonota is a former candidate of the BBC’s business competition The Apprentice.
The businessman reflected on his time in the show and admitted that he “wasn’t happy” with his run.
Led by Lord Alan Sugar, Raj appeared in the show’s very first series in 2005.
Detailing his feelings about it, Raj Dhonota said: “I didn’t enjoy myself, it wasn’t for me.
“It wasn’t about business – it was about entertainment. It wasn’t my cup of tea.
“It was advertised as being after the 14 best entrepreneurial minds in the UK, so I felt I could fit that bill.
“Lord Sugar’s obviously well known in business and it looked like a serious business programme, which is why I applied for it.
“The experience was different, but that’s what it seemed like initially.”
Despite the discontentment, Raj asserted that he has no regrets about The Apprentice.
He continued: “I wasn’t happy with the way things were portrayed.
“But overall there were 10,000 applicants so to be chosen as one of the 14 and then to get through nine weeks, it was a new experience and I learned new things around media, so I don’t regret my time on there.
“I’d change everything. I haven’t seen the most recent ones – I didn’t even watch all of mine to be honest – but if it’s the same format over 18 years it just feels a bit stale. I’d make it more real, more business oriented.”
“Candidates have limited avenues they can go down, so there’s no free will on a task.
“You get to choose one out of five, and all those five options are poor options.
“I’d give more free will to candidates to go out and actually express their business talent rather than putting them in straitjackets and sending them down a particular path.
“We only got to see Lord Sugar at the boardroom. It appears that the advisors are there all the time but they’re not.
“They’re there for much less time than it appears on camera, just for the head nods and the winks and the raised eyebrows.
“The majority of feedback just goes to Lord Sugar from the actual producers, who are looking at things from a TV angle not a business angle.
“That’s the way it operated and I doubt that’s changed much.”
The Apprentice currently offers the winning candidate a 50/50 partnership with Lord Sugar in an original business as well as a £250,000 investment from the business mogul.
However, during Raj’s time on the show, the winning prize was a job within one of Lord Sugar’s companies.
Although Raj Dhonota did not win the show, he got through nine weeks of the process.
His series was won by Tim Campbell, who is now one of Lord Sugar’s aides on the programme.
The Apprentice is currently airing its 18th series on BBC One.
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